News

One Piece Film Red Stays at #1, 2nd Sword Art Online Progressive Film at #2 in Yen Earned

The One Piece Film Red anime stayed at #1 in its 14th weekend at the Japanese box office. The film sold 90,000 tickets over the weekend, and earned 122,947,620 yen (about US$838,000) from Friday to Sunday. The film has sold a total of 13.01 million tickets, and has earned a cumulative total of 18,035,850,350 yen (about US$122 million).

One Piece Film Red opened in Japan on August 6. The movie has become the franchise's highest-selling and highest-earning film installment, in terms of both the number of tickets sold and yen earned at the box office. The film has also topped Top Gun: Maverick to become the highest-earning film to open in Japan so far this year. The anime is both the #6 all-time highest-earning anime film in Japan and the #9 all-time highest-earning film in Japan.

Crunchyroll released One Piece Film Red in the United States and Canada on Friday, and in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday. The film earned an estimated total of US$9,475,251 in its first three days in the United States to rank #2 overall in the U.S. box office for the weekend.

The film centers on a new character named Uta, Shanks' daughter. Kaori Nazuka is the speaking voice of Uta, while Ado is the character's singing voice. Ado also performs the film's theme song "Shinjidai" ("New Genesis"). Goro Taniguchi (Code Geass, One Piece: Defeat The Pirate Ganzak! special) directed One Piece Film Red. Tsutomu Kuroiwa (One Piece Film Gold, One Piece: Heart of Gold, GANTZ:O, live-action Black Butler) wrote the screenplay, and One Piece manga creator Eiichiro Oda himself served as executive producer.

Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Kuraki Yūyami no Scherzo (Scherzo of a Dark Dusk), the second film in the Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- anime film series, rose back up from #4 to #3 in tickets sold, but stayed at #2 in the actual amount of yen earned, in its third weekend. The film earned 107,683,635 yen (about US$734,000) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 817,193,233 yen (about US$5.57 million).

The second film opened for regular screenings in Japan on October 22 but opened on IMAX and 4DX screenings one day earlier on October 21.

The film features a returning cast. In addition, Kaede Hondo plays Liten, and Yūsuke Kobayashi plays Morte.

Ayako Kohno (unit director on Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic, High School Fleet, The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky) returned to direct the film at A-1 Pictures, and Kento Toya (Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld, The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments) returned to design the characters. Yasuyuki Kai again served as action director, and Yuki Kajiura returned to compose the music. Eir Aoi performed the theme song "Shinzо̄" (Heart).

The live-action film of Katsutoshi Murase and Welzard's Karada Sagashi (Body Search) horror manga stayed at #2 in tickets sold, but #3 in yen earned, in its fourth weekend. The film earned 83,782,880 yen (about US$571,100) from Friday to Sunday. The film has earned a cumulative total of 894,870,340 yen (about US$6.09 million).

The film opened on October 14.

Kanna Hashimoto plays protagonist Asuka Morisaki, and director Eiichirō Hasumi (Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, live-action Assassination Classroom) reunited with Hashimoto for the first time in six years. Harumi Doki penned the script, and Yūgo Kanno composed the film's music.

Welzard's original cellphone novel on the Everystar site inspired Murase's manga adaptation. The manga inspired a series of anime shorts that debuted on Production I.G's Tate Anime (now Anime Beans) app in July 2017.

The re-screening of Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween (Meitantei Conan: Halloween no Hanayome), the Detective Conan franchise's 25th anime film, dropped from #3 to #4 in its second weekend. The film is currently in a Halloween special re-screening that opened two weeks ago and ranked at #3. The film earned 67,154,600 yen (about US$457,700) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a total of 9,682,314,250 yen (about US$66 million).

The film sold 82,000 tickets and earned 114,444,900 yen (about US$771,000) in the first weekend of its re-screening, which pushed the film past the 9.37 billion yen earnings of Detective Conan: Fist of Blue Sapphire, making the film the highest-earning anime film in the Detective Conan franchise.

The new screening is one minute longer than the original screening of the film, and will screen until November 7.

The film opened in Japan on April 15 and sold 1,321,944 tickets for 1,907,467,150 yen (about US$15.06 million) in its first three days. The film earned 1% more in its first three days than the previous record-holding film (for total earnings) in the franchise, Detective Conan: Fist of Blue Sapphire, in its first three days.

Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!) directed the film at TMS Entertainment. Takahiro Ōkura (Detective Conan: Fist of Blue Sapphire, Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter) wrote the screenplay. Gosho Aoyama was credited for the original work. Yūgo Kanno (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Psycho-Pass) composed the music for the film. Bump of Chicken performed the film's theme song "Chronostasis."

Sadako DX, the new live-action film in the Ring franchise, stayed at #5 in its second weekend. The film earned 37,674,950 yen (about US$256,800), and has earned a cumulative total of 219,667,350 yen (about US$1.49 million).

The film opened on October 28 and debuted at #5. The film earned 78,824,850 yen (about US$531,000) over the weekend, and earned 106,800,720 yen (about US$719,400) in its first three days (including Friday).

Hisashi Kimura directed the film. Yūya Takahashi (Lupin the IIIrd: Fujiko Mine's Lie, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid) wrote the script.

Suzuki's Ring novel series inspired the horror franchise of the same name. The Japanese film series includes two timelines. The first film, Ring, debuted in 1998, and the Spiral sequel followed later that year. Ring 2 premiered in 1999, and Ring Ø: Birthday debuted in 2000. The franchise also includes two Sadako 3D films, as well as a new Sadako film, which opened in Japan in May 2019.

The first main film received a Hollywood remake in 2002, and had two sequels. A new Hollywood film titled Rings opened in February 2017. Additionally, the Japanese franchise includes the 2016 Sadako vs. Kayako crossover film with the Ju-on horror franchise.

Gekijō-ban Utano☆Princesama♪ Maji Love ST☆RISH Tours, the latest film in the Utano☆Princesama franchise, rose back up from #10 tp #8 in its 10th weekend. The film earned 29,932,680 yen (about US$204,000) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 1,553,075,300 yen (about US$10.58 million).

The film ranked at #7 in its opening weekend. The film sold 86,500 tickets and earned 140 million yen (about US$996,400) in its first three days. The film earned about 69.61 million yen (about US$495,400) on its opening day on September 2, earning 63% more than the previous film in the franchise, Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom, did on its first day when it opened in Japan in June 2019.

The film — described as part of a "new theatrical film series" — is entirely composed of concert footage of the ST☆RISH idol group. Noriyasu Agematsu was once again credited as the original creator with Broccoli. Elements Garden composed the music, and A-1 Pictures produced the film. Shochiku is distributing the film.

The live-action sequel film based on Aoi Hiiragi's Whisper of the Heart (Mimi o Sumaseba) manga dropped from #8 to #10 in its fourth weekend. The film earned 26,698,470 yen (about US$182,000) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 500,973,000 yen (about US$3.41 million) from over 1 million tickets.

Yūichirō Hirakawa (live-action The Promised Neverland, ERASED/Boku dake ga Inai Machi, Waiting for Spring, Rookies, JIN projects) directed the movie. Anne Watanabe performed a cover of Michio Yamagami's popular folk song "Tsubasa o Kudasai" as the film's theme song.

The original manga inspired an anime film by Yoshifumi Kondō and Studio Ghibli in 1995.

The 4K remaster of Gainax's Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honnêamise film dropped from #1 to #3 in the mini-theater ranking in its second weekend. The film opened in Japan on October 28.

Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2, link 3), comScore via KOFIC, Mantan Web